


just like daddy

by flashytonystark



Series: We Are All Self-Sacrificing [4]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Iron Man - Fandom, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Cinematic Universe RPF, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Adorable Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Family Feels, Feels, Gen, It's hard being a four year old, Kid Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Morgan Stark-centric (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Morgan misses her daddy, Parent Pepper Potts, Parent Tony Stark, Past Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Pepper Potts Feels, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Post-Endgame, Precious Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Tony Stark Feels, Whump, pepperony freeform, this is cute but also heartbreaking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:07:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23600569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flashytonystark/pseuds/flashytonystark
Summary: She wants to be like her daddy when she grows up. She wants to fly in suits and and fight all the bad guys and be a hero.Or, the one where Morgan misses her daddy and wishes he could come home.
Relationships: James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe) & Tony Stark, Pepper Potts & Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Pepper Potts & Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe) & Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark
Series: We Are All Self-Sacrificing [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1125285
Comments: 4
Kudos: 26
Collections: mama pepper fics





	just like daddy

**Author's Note:**

> While not told directly from Morgan's POV, this is told more at a chid's level to connect with Morgan and her struggles of adjusting to life as a little girl without her father and that's why Pepper and Tony are never mentioned by name –– just as mommy and daddy.
> 
> Enjoy!

It’s hard being four years old and trying to figure out the world. There’s so much to explore, to learn about, so many boundaries to push and theories to try, all before the inevitable and _dreaded_ nap time.

Four-year-olds want to ride on their tricycles and chase after birds and dig for worms in the dirt. Except for Morgan Stark. All she wants is to be in the garage with her daddy while he explains how his holotable works while she sits on his work bench, handing Dum-E bolts to be sorted into their proper containers.

That is _all_ Morgan wants in the whole wide world and she doesn’t understand why she can’t. She can’t see her daddy or play with his helmets and sneak leftover pizza with him while her mom isn’t looking.

Her daddy’s been gone for four days and she doesn’t get why he’s not coming home. She’s smart, her daddy tells her that all the time, calls her his little legacy, but even this is hard for her to comprehend. There were so many people at their house over the weekend and they all looked sad, even Uncle Rhodey and Uncle Happy. Steve was there too, and Peter and the guy with the cool eyepatch. Everyone wanted to hug her mommy even though she looked tired and sad. All Morgan wanted was to get out of her itchy dress and the shoes that pinched her toes so she could eat a cheeseburger.

She’s playing outside in her tent next to the big pine tree she likes to hide behind when playing hide-and-seek. It’s her favorite place to hide because she always stumps her daddy and he hardly ever finds her there. Maybe if she hides behind her tree, he’ll come back and find her. Then they can go on a hike and look for cool bugs and butterflies with pretty colored wings.

Morgan crawls out of her tent and dusts off her knees before rounding around the small structure to go sit at the tree. She’s going to count as high as she can and then her daddy will be there to find her, right?

She doesn’t think she’s sat there for very long when she’s found, but it’s by her mommy and not her daddy like she’s been hoping.

“Hey baby,” her mommy says softly, crouching down so she can look directly at Morgan. “How about some lunch? I made your favorite.”

“Peanut butter and jelly?” Morgan asks excitedly as she scrambles to her feet. “Mommy I _love_ peanut butter and jelly.”

Her little voice is so serious as she says this and she immediately takes off toward the house, nothing else in the world a cause for worry, not for little Morgan with her bright eyes and infectious smile.

She’s waiting by the door, shifting a little impatiently from foot to foot as she waits for her mom to make it up the stairs. In one quick scoop, she’s lifted off her feet and carried into the house with a delighted squeal.

Everything is fine . . . until it’s not. It starts with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and ends in tears.

Morgan, who had been excited beyond measure over a simple sandwich, suddenly insists she doesn’t like the one she’s been presented with. Little arms cross over her chest and she tucks her chin down in a serious pout even as she’s being coaxed into eating her lunch.

Her mommy doesn’t understand why she doesn’t like the sandwich and for Morgan, it’s hard to explain. She knows the words, but she doesn’t know how to express them. Her daddy would understand if he was here, she knows he would and he’d tell her mommy what’s wrong. It’s not until her mommy’s voice breaks in exhaustion and slight frustration that Morgan breaks down in tears.

“Morgan, you have to eat your lunch. It’s peanut butter and jelly like I always make. I promise.”

“But you didn’t do it right!” She insists, her bottom lip trembling as she looks at her mommy, just as frustrated. “You didn’t cut it like my daddy does!”

* * *

Morgan knows her daddy likes to visit Gerald at least once a day and he always takes her with him. They make sure Gerald has plenty of food and water and her daddy even lets her brush him out if she’s been extra good.

She misses her daddy and she bets Gerald does too.

Gerald is their alpaca and he likes to explore the woods by their house. He’s gray and white and sometimes licks Morgan’s hand if she holds it out to him with some food in the middle of her palm. She likes it when her daddy lets her feed Gerald because he’s always telling her new facts about animals. An alpaca is way cooler than a dog, not that Morgan would mind having a dog of her own.

“Mommy, we have to feed Gerald,” Morgan announces later that afternoon, her special boots in her hand. They’re the only boots she’s allowed to wear in the yard and the garden because that’s what her daddy told her, so she plops down on the rug in front of the fireplace and tugs each of them on.

“Daddy says we have to make sure Gerald doesn’t eat your gooey berries too.”

“Goji berries,” her mommy corrects gently. She puts the book she was reading down and gets up to find the shoes she usually wears when gardening and changes into them as Morgan bounces around the living room. It’s rained a few times and the yard is a little muddy in places which just makes Morgan even more excited to visit Gerald because she loves to play in the mud.

Morgan is a big girl now, so she’s allowed to dump Gerald’s food all by herself, but her mommy still watches closely, ready to help if she needs to. She even lets Morgan stomp around in a couple of puddles before they have to go back inside.

“Don’t eat the gooey berries,” Morgan reminds the alpaca, giving his front leg a gentle pat with her hand. “Daddy says if you do, Mommy will make him sleep on the couch.”

Morgan turns back to her mommy and beams at her, proud that she’s remembered to tell Gerald to stay away from the berries, but she notices there are tears on her mommy’s cheeks and she starts worrying.

“Oh no, baby, it’s okay,” her mommy insists, bending down to pick Morgan up with one hand while she wipes at her face with the other. “Sometimes Mommy gets sad is all.”

Wrapping her little arms around her neck, Morgan squeezes as hard as she can, nearly making her entire body vibrate with the effort.

“Better, Mommy?”

“So much better. You give the best hugs, baby girl.”

“Yeah! Just like my daddy.”

* * *

Coloring is probably Morgan’s favorite thing in the world. Her mommy and daddy’s desks upstairs are covered in pictures she’s colored and drawn special, just for them, as is the refrigerator and the walls of her daddy’s workshop.

She likes coloring and drawing pictures because her daddy always tells her how great they look and he listens as she explains her drawings and inventions. One of these days she’s going to create something just as cool as her daddy’s Iron Man suits.

Busy creating and dreaming up her latest and greatest inventions, Morgan sits at the kitchen table with her paper and crayons. She’s up on her knees to get a better view of her pictures as she draws, her little tongue poking out from between her lips. She hears the shuttering of her mommy’s phone which means she just took her picture, but she doesn’t care — she’s too busy creating a robot dog to be best friends with Gerald.

Maybe if she creates a robot dog, her mommy will let her get a real dog too.

“FRIDAY,” Morgan says, her brown hair hanging down around her face that she’s constantly pushing back. “Play the black song.”

“Please,” her mommy adds, and Morgan tacks it onto her request at the last second.

There’s an affirmative beep from the AI before the sound system starts pumping AC/DC’s _Back in Black_ through the living room speakers. It’s loud, just like her daddy likes it, but her mommy makes FRIDAY turn it down some. Morgan doesn’t complain though because the music doesn’t hurt her ears as much when it’s not so loud. She really likes this song, so much that she mumbles along with what she thinks are the words.

“Whatcha working on, sweetie?” Her mommy asks. She pulls the chair next to Morgan’s out away from the table and sits down, glancing down at her masterpiece.

“Gerald needs a friend,” she explains, using an abundance of her red crayon. “This is my robot dog and his name is Steve. I’m gonna make him when I get bigger.”

“Wow, you’re doing a great job on Steve,” her mommy says, even though her picture looks more like a combination of shaky circles on sticks. “Daddy would love him, especially because he’s all red. Very good color choice.”

“Like his suits.”

“Exactly like his suits.” Her mommy’s voice is quieter now and Morgan looks up, afraid she might be crying again, but sees that her mommy is smiling at her instead. “Can you tell me why you asked FRIDAY to play this song? It’s a good one too.”

Morgan sighs and makes a face that looks so much like her daddy it’s scary.

“Because daddy always listens to this song in his workshop when he’s makin’ stuff. When I get bigger, I’m going to be just like my daddy.”

* * *

When Uncle Rhodey comes over, Morgan is in heaven. He’s her favorite person besides her mommy and daddy and he always takes her for ice cream, even if she hasn’t had dinner yet. She likes it when her Uncle Rhodey comes to visit because he has a suit like her daddy’s and sometimes he even lets her wear his helmet which is the coolest thing ever.

She wants to be like her daddy and Uncle Rhodey when she grows up. She wants to fly in suits and and fight all the bad guys and be a hero.

“Uncle Rhodey?” She asks as he takes the War Machine helmet from her. “I miss my daddy.”

Her Uncle Rhodey isn’t sure what he supposed to say, so he pulls her into his lap instead and gives her a squeeze like her daddy used to. She wants to ask if he can bring her daddy home because she misses his kisses and the funny voices he makes when he reads her a bedtime story. Her mommy does the voices too, but she doesn’t do them like her daddy does even though she tries really hard.

“I miss your daddy too, squirt. We all do.”

Morgan doesn’t feel like ice cream anymore and she barely touches her pizza when her mommy orders one for dinner. She wishes her daddy was here because he would give her a big hug and they’d have juice pops together.

If her daddy were here, he could tell her mommy that she only likes the mac and cheese in the blue box now and could show her mommy the cool new braid he sometimes puts in her hair. He could tell her mommy about the cool trick she showed Dum-E and how she helped put air in the tires of her daddy’s car. She wishes her daddy could be there to help her do a somersault because her mommy still doesn’t do it like her daddy does and she doesn’t put enough bubbles in her bubble bath either.

When her daddy was still here, sometimes Morgan would wake up and find her daddy working downstairs but she always had to keep it a secret even though she’s pretty sure her mommy knew all about it. Her mommy doesn’t do that though, and if she does wake up and her mommy isn’t in her bed, she’s usually asleep on the couch, a book on the floor.

It’s her lucky day because after dinner, her mommy lets her sit on the couch and watch her favorite cartoons while she talks to Uncle Rhodey in the other room. Morgan is so engrossed in the cartoons that she doesn’t realize her Uncle Rhodey is leaving until he all but demands hugs and kisses from her in a funny voice, just like her daddy.

* * *

“Hey little miss. How about we go put our pjs on and after, we’ll have juice pops.”

This is the best news Morgan has heard all day. Her mommy doesn’t normally let her have juice pops right before bed because of the sugar, but her daddy does. She hurries upstairs to her bedroom and picks out her favorite pair of pajamas and gets dressed just like she was asked.

She’s just coming out of her bedroom to go back downstairs when her mommy stops her, two juice pops in her hand. She smiles at Morgan and holds her free hand out to her so she can take it.

“How about we have a sleepover in Mommy’s big bed tonight? Does that sound like fun?”

“Uh, yeah,” she says, practically skipping down the hall to her mommy and daddy’s bedroom. They have the best bed in the entire world. It’s big and soft and has _so_ many pillows which are her favorite part.

With help from her mommy, Morgan climbs onto the bed and immediately crawls across to her daddy’s side. She knows it’s his because his watch is on the bedside table, along with a wrench, a few bolts, and his phone.

“Mommy?” Morgan asks suddenly. “Will you tell me a story?”

“I’ll have to go get one of your books off your bookshelf, but sure. Which one do you want to read tonight?”

“No, I want you to _tell_ me a story. About Daddy.”

Her mommy climbs into bed with her and gets them both settled under the covers, Morgan settled against her side land holding her own juice pop.

“You miss Daddy, don’t you?”

“Yeah, ‘cause he can’t read me bedtime stories or give me piggyback rides.”

“I miss him too and I really wish he was here to see what a smart young lady you’re going to become. But I promise, Daddy loved you so much, more than anything in the whole world. When you were just a baby, Daddy would stay up with all night long and sing you songs until you’d fall back asleep. He’d put you in your carrier and take you into the workshop with him while he worked on his suits and everything. You meant the world to him, kiddo.”

Morgan seems to think this over as she chews on the stick to her juice pop. Her mommy brought her orange which is the color her daddy would bring her because it’s her favorite. She hopes she and her mommy can have juice pops like this again soon; she likes being curled up against her in the big soft bed with the pillows that smell like her daddy’s shampoo.

“I’m done, Mommy,” Morgan says, turning to pass off her stick. She notices there’s a little bit of red at the corner of her mommy’s mouth from her juice pop, so Morgan gets on her knees and wriggles her arm back into her sleeve a little.

“What are you doing, sweetie?” Her mommy asks, reaching out to help Morgan with her sleeve. With her hand tucked inside like she wants, Morgan reaches up and wipes at the red spot on her mommy’s mouth and beams when it comes off.

“You had juice pop on your face,” she explains with a giggle, showing off the small red spot now on her sleeve. “I cleaned it off for you, just like my daddy does.”

With their sticks in the trash can and the bedroom lights turned off, Morgan scoots down beneath the blankets until only her little head is visible. She’s on her side, nearly nose-to-nose with her mommy and there’s just enough light from the moon that Morgan can see she’s smiling. She likes it when her mommy smiles, it means she’s happy and that makes Morgan happy. She just wishes her daddy was here so her mommy would smile all the time; she knows that’s why her mommy cries sometimes.

“Mommy,” Morgan whispers, wriggling underneath the covers.

“Morgan,” her mommy whispers back.

“I love you three-thousand.”

“You do? I thought you only loved Daddy that much.”

“And you too!” she insists as her mommy’s hand comes up to push her hair back, tucking it behind her ear.

“Well I love you tons. Just like your daddy does.”


End file.
